(music) -- Welcome to Mississippi Antique Showcase.

We're in Jackson, Mississippi with our expert appraisers to look at your rare finds family heirlooms and quirky collectables.

We'll see what we can learn about these unique treasures And of course, see what they might be worth.

-- This beautiful piece here.

Marie Antoinette.

-- Right.

-- What can you tell me about it?

-- I can tell you that there's only two in the United States.

Patti Page, the singer, has one and I have one.

-- Okay.

-- It was given to me and to my husband at the passing of his mother.

-- How do you know Patti Page has?

-- I saw it.

-- You actually saw it?

-- Yes.

-- Did you meet Patti Page?

-- No, I just saw it.

-- All right.

Okay.

And I assume this will stay in your family, get passed on?

-- Yes, it will.

-- You have any idea as to the value?

-- No, that's all.

-- None whatsoever?

-- None whatsoever.

-- I have not sold the exact piece, but I've sold similar pieces.

-- Same color?

-- Similar.

Again, similar.

All of these are similar, you know.

At auction, again, making sure that the right people attended it.

There's collectors who really, really like these pieces.

At auction, $1500 to $2000.

-- Really?

-- Yes, yes.

-- That's wonderful.

-- This one is in beautiful condition.

It's been well taken care of.

You can see all the maker marks -- It's behind glass.

-- It is?

Well, and I'm assuming nobody's playing with it.

-- No, no.

Well, it was left out.

It was on a table.

And the grandchildren and children never, never touched it because they were not allowed to.

-- Well, I just had a lady in here that said the reason her stuff looks so good, it had to do not touch sign on it.

And she wasn't allowed to even touch it.

All right, the last piece you have here today is the vase.

Appears to be French.

just by looking at it.

Beautiful example, gold gilded.

It's just absolutely gorgeous.

I was looking at the maker's mark.

By the picture, by the art, it's all hand-painted, hand-gilded.

Tell me a little bit how you came to acquire that.

-- Well, this was in the estate of my husband's mother.

And she decided that since I had most of her pieces, that she wanted me to have that.

And I have aquired it, and had it for about 60 years.

-- About 50 years?

-- 60, 60 years.

-- 60 years.

Okay.

-- And she had it longer than that.

-- Okay.

My best estimate would be this was in the late 1800s.

There were quite a few of these done by a French artist.

They were quite popular all through Europe and the United States.

This one is in absolutely new, pristine perfect condition.

-- Behind glass.

-- Again, because you have taken care of it based on that and looking at it and just the sheer beauty of it, I would estimate $400 to $600 at auction.

-- Really?

-- Yes, ma'am.

-- Okay.

What about this?

-- Okay, your picture.

Can I see that just a moment?

This is General MacArthur and this gentleman is the President-- -- Dr. Bondurat -- Spell that.

-- B-O-N-D-U-R-A-T -- Dr. Bondurat.

And he's here giving some kind of award or?...

-- He is just back to look at the facilities where he went to school.

-- Okay, where General MacArthur- -- Yes, where he graduated from.

-- Right.

Okay.

This is a piece of history.

-- I think so.

-- Do you have any idea what year this was?

-- 1950.

Maybe '48 or '50.

-- Based on the the historical significance of this and who it is, General MacArthur, I would estimate at auction this picture would bring somewhere between $300 and $400 to a collector.

You have some very nice pieces here, and thank you so much for bringing them in.

-- How did you come by this piece?

-- I was attending a convention at the Duraigh Hotel in Miami Beach, and Richard Nixon was doing a major fundraiser there.

And they were selling these.

And I just happened to pick up one because I love how it is one of the nice-- I don't collect political posters, but I just loved everybody that's in it.

-- You've had it since 1968.

My goodness.

You framed it?

It wasn't framed when you bought it?

-- Right.

-- Well my goodness.

Well I notice it says "Authorized and paid for "by the National Youth for Nixon/Agnew, Lillard Hotel, Washington, D.C." But I never thought about youth putting out a poster.

-- Yeah.

Oh, there were, you know, young Republicans back then.

-- Yeah, I guess so.

Have you ever had it appraised?

-- No, I looked it up on the Internet, and there's a big difference in price, low end and high end.

And I didn't see any that were framed.

And I felt this is the way to protect it rather than keeping it rolled up.

-- Oh, yeah.

The roll doesn't do them any good.

-- Exactly.

-- Well, you know, just looking at it, I couldn't believe all the faces I was seeing on your poster, you've got Wilt Chamberlain.

And I don't know if this is saying Wilt Chamberlain-- -- This is Zsa Zsa.

-- That is Zsa Zsa Gabor!

Yeah, I guess this is saying these people support Nixon because if they didn't support Nixon, they wouldn't be on the poster.

-- There you go.

They probably bought their picture on this.

-- My goodness.

Well, I see his daughter Patricia here, and that's Richard's other daughter.

And here's Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.

And back here you have Howard Baker from Tennessee.

And I don't know who our quarterback is there.

-- He's number 15 of something.

-- And the people that are all into football are saying "Well, that's so-and-so!"

-- And they're probably right -- Anyway, he must've been good.

"Dick wants a voluntary army."

So they were going to stop the draft and that was good.

And "18 year olds to vote."

You know, at that time, I guess 18 year olds weren't voting.

Most of my life, 18 year olds have been voting.

"Nixon's the One", right?

Well, I like your poster.

I think this poster in today's market is probably going to sell somewhere in the $100 to $200 range.

And that's a pretty broad range.

But if you were selling it in an auction with political memorabilia, then it's probably going to bring more, when you've got some collectors there.

And if you had it in just a regular estate sale or that sort of thing, you might be selling it for the $100.

It's a very nice poster and one I never saw before.

-- Oh, really?

-- Yeah, I really thank you for bringing it out.

It's interesting to say the least.

-- Exactly, and this, believe it or not, we hang it on a wall in the walk-in closet.

-- In a walk-in closet?

-- Becausewe don't want to offend any guests obviously coming to the house.

-- So you've got Nixon in the closet?

-- Exactly.

-- (laughing) Okay.

Well, thank you for bringing it out.

We appreciate it.

-- Thank you.

-- Tell me a little bit about the history behind these pieces and where you got them.

- I bought this one.

When I was teaching school in 1970 down in Moss Point.

And this one came to me from my aunt and this one came to me from my great aunt.

-- All right.

These obviously are Shearwater pottery.

They were from three different eras of Shearwater.

First, this particular bowl is probably 1950s to 1970s thereof.

Or they may have had extras in the pottery at the time.

But that's the typical aqua blue coloring hand-thrown pot.

This piece is a little bit later, I would say, 1960s to 1970s, possibly even early 1980s because of the drip glaze.

It also has a different kind of marking on the bottom and possibly an artist's signature, which is a J, maybe James.

This piece is much earlier.

This has the old circle mark with a Shearwater stamp in it.

Pieces like this were made probably in the 1940s and 1950s, and they're all hand-painted under the glaze with various colors of paint.

Both of the Anderson brothers made different pieces of pottery.

This are eels intertwined.

Their tails all meet in the middle.

So these are all eels around the edges.

This is, as I said, one of the earliest pieces.

At auction in New Orleans, pieces like that are bringing anywhere from $1,200 to $1,800 at auction.

-- Oh, wow!

-- It also depends on the design and the coloring.

A bowl like this from the early period is perhaps $300 right now.

And then a small bowl would be perhaps $150 or $200.

-- Wow.

Well I paid $6.50 for this one.

I wrote it down $6.

-- But protect that one.

That's your oldest piece.

-- Well, thank you, I appreciate hearing that.

-- Well, Stacy, never saw one of these before, but we're going to give it our best shot.

-- Okay.

-- Where did you come by this?

-- This has been around my family for ever since I can remember.

And I have no idea where it actually came from.

-- This was in maybe your mother's house?

-- Yes.

Yes.

-- Okay.

-- And then I got it, yes.

When I was small, I remember it.

But I had an uncle that was in the Navy and so he could have come by it.

-- An uncle in the Navy.

Yes, and that was way back in the 1960s.

-- Where did your family live?

-- I have always lived in Meridian.

Okay, but your mother and dad and uncle?

-- Well, my mother and dad... Well, my dad kinda lived in New Orleans some as well, yes.

-- I think what we probably have here is a lamp made out of a piece of an artillery shell.

And if you look on this end, there's a little hole here.

-- Yes.

-- And I think that's maybe where the primer was.

But this piece is really heavy.

-- Yes, I've used it as a doorstop.

-- You know, this could be it could be Civil War, but it looks like what's commonly referred to as a piece of trench art, but it may not be.

I've just never seen anything quite like it.

-- And that's why I brought it.

I think it's at least mid 19th century, if not older.

-- Yes.

-- It strikes me, value-wise, and it could be much more than this because I'm talking about something I don't know about.

-- Yeah.

-- If I were selling this at auction, I would expect it would bring at least $200 or $300.

But, you know, it's not something you see every day.

And I've never seen anything quite like it.

-- I really like it.

I've always liked it.

-- Oh, I love it.

-- Because it's just, it's unusual.

-- It is unusual.

And thank you for bringing it out.

-- Oh, yes.

Yes.

Thank you.

-- You have brought your coin collection in today.

Tell me what you know about it.

-- These coins were collected by my grandfather, Mr. John Ali LeBlanc, in his home in Ponchatoula, Louisiana.

He died 25 years ago.

And these coins have not come out of this bag since that time.

But he loved collecting coins and we played with coins and he taught me how to count money when I was very little, because he and my grandmother were mesmerized with coins, because we played cards all the time and we had to ante up.

And then after we won, we had to count the coins that we won in the card games.

So his idea of making the card games more interesting was to find older, different kinds of coins to throw in to ante up for the card game pot.

-- LeBlanc?

French-Canadian?

-- Yes.

Yes.

-- Okay.

Yes.

You have quite an assortment here.

You have halves, you have silver dollars, you have quarters, you have dimes.

In today's coin market, so much of it is based on the value of both silver and gold.

Okay?

Gold currently is selling in the $1800 an ounce range.

Silver is in the $20 an ounce range.

So based on pure silver or gold prices, that's one value.

You add to it the value of when you bring in rarity, when you bring in the fact that they're old.

These have been around for a long time.

There are people whose lives are kind of built around coin collections.

What do you think, as a collector, that you have here in value?

What do you think they're worth?

-- I would say $40 to $50.

-- $40 to $50, okay.

As I told you earlier, I'm not going to let you appraise any coins for me.

(both laughing) I'm just playing with you.

In all honesty, yeah.

With the material that I received and the pictures I looked at, about the only thing I could really tell much about were the bigger coins, the larger coins, the dollars and half dollars and so forth.

But based on what I see and then knowing a little bit about what's left in the bag, I would estimate that somewhere between $175 and $225 based on desirability, collector, what they're looking for and it fluctuates all the time.

But we sell a lot of coins and if we had them, I think that's what they would bring at auction.

Or if I sold them to an individual, just a fair market sale, just one on one.

But I think you got a little more money than you thought you had there.

So I don't think you're going to take them to the bank and cash them in.

-- Oh no.

-- You're not going to spend them.

They have more value to you and a special meaning.

I would keep them hold on to them, and they're a keepsake for the rest of your life.

-- I had forgotten that they were even in existence until this event.

And just the memories of all the fun times we had learning about coins when I was little.

-- They have a value to you that they don't have for anybody else.

Thank you again for bringing them in.

It's always interesting.

Coins are one of my favorite subjects and I enjoy seeing people's coins collections.

-- Well, thank you, sir.

-- Thank you for bringing them.

-- Absolutely.

-- Marcella.

Thank you for bringing the painting out today.

How did you come by this painting?

-- I actually had a niece that was helping clean out an elderly lady's house and they were going to throw them away or do something with them.

And she asked if I wanted them.

So that's the only history I know is I saved them from the dumpster.

-- Well, that was a good save.

How many years ago did you save them from the dumpster?

-- That may have been about seven years ago.

-- About seven years ago.

Do you know anything about the family that was throwing them away?

-- The lady was in her nineties and had passed away and they were cleaning out her house.

So that's all the history I have.

Not related at all.

-- Have you ever had them appraised?

-- No, no idea.

-- No idea what the value is?

-- No idea what the value is.

-- This is an oil on canvas.

And just looking at the back of the piece, I think it's probably 1950s.

-- Okay.

-- And it's probably a piece that was painted to sell in an art shop in Italy to a tourist.

I can't make out the artist's signature there.

But, you know, you're looking out of a villa there and, you know, probably the ocean, it's a pretty picture.

And the condition is not bad.

-- And the frame, It's been a little wet on the bottom, but you could have that, you know, restored and that would work out fine.

I think this painting probably would sell... it would be selling more for a decorator type thing than it would art value and it's pretty.

It would probably sell in the $250 to $500 range.

-- Okay.

-- Somewhere in there, to a well-advertised auction.

But it's a pretty piece.

Thank you for bringing it.

-- Thank you.

-- How are you tonight?

-- I'm fine, thank you.

-- Tell me a little bit about the history of this piece.

-- Well, I discovered it when I was going through my mother's estate my house, and it came from my grandfather.

He was a shoe repair man in Yazoo City The Modern Shoe Shop.

And this is my grandmother's piece Her name was Annie Marie Glorioso Majo.

And so of course, I found it, and I had it on my mantle and I always thought it was beautiful, so I just thought it needed to be-- I wanted to know more about it.

-- Basically, this is a mantle piece that would have sat on the center of the mantle.

-- Yeah, that's where it is now.

-- Yeah.

They were made, a lot of them were in bisque.

This one is in finished porcelain.

It is not marked.

But because of the gilding and the little bit of Art Nouveau decoration, I would think that it's from about 1890 to 1900.

-- Wow.

-- Some of the houses there in Yazoo City City would have had this kind of thing, especially with the merchants that built houses up Grand Avenue.

At one point, I lived in Yazoo City, so I was familiar with at least the building that the show shop was in.

-- Yeah, well, he-- they-- Mama lived above it.

And so they lived above the shoe shop and the fire station next door.

-- Oh, yes, that's correct.

-- Yeah, yeah.

-- But this is typical decoration.

There were a lot of shops there in Yazoo City before the fire that sold this kind of, you know, items, decorative items.

Probably a replacement value for a piece like this would be in the $150 to $200 range.

That's, you know, for insurance.

-- Right.

-- It doesn't seem to be damaged.

But the cupids, they call "peu-te-eet" oh, are... important in some of its value.

And then of course the dress on the young lady is a little bit Art Nouveau.

-- Right, yeah.

-- So it's a very nice piece.

-- Yeah.

-- Typical Victorian decor.

-- Victorian.

Okay, great.

-- Well I enjoyed talking with you.

-- Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you, bye.

-- You brought us a nice perfume bottle today, yeah?

Have you had this one very long?

-- Oh, no, it actually belongs to my cousin, and she bought it at an auction.

She's ill and she asked me to bring it today for her.

-- Has she ever had it appraised?

-- Well, no, I don't think so.

She did pay $20 for it.

-- Paid $20 for it.

-- Yes.

-- Well, I'll tell you what, it's mighty pretty to have been bought for $20.

-- It's beautiful.

It's lovely.

-- It really is.

And she said she ill today.

I hate she couldn't come.

This is a brilliant period.

It's known as a Brilliant Period cut glass and it's more of a Horn of Plenty or Cornucopia style with a sterling silver cap.

And the Brilliant Period, that was the best period for cut glass.

Companies like Hawks and Core Libbys.

There were several companies that made the better pieces.

And this is probably one of those companies.

It's so small, it's not signed.

Probably originally it had a chain that attached here, and I don't know exactly what those chains were for.

I've seen some of these bottles in the past with the chains.

Some folks thought maybe they could have worn them on the wrist, but maybe it was just something to pick it up by.

It is a really nice one.

Sometimes the glass will be what they call "sick glass" and you'll look down inside and there'll be mineral deposits and it'll have a grey cast to it and that will affect the value.

This one looks good and clear on the inside.

And I've noticed in the lid there's a little bit of cotton there and I don't know exactly why that was there.

I guess maybe just to help seal it up or something, but a very nice little piece.

In today's market, I can see a little perfume bottle like this one probably selling in the $50 to $100 range.

-- Oh, okay.

Wow.

-- So I think it was a good investment at $20.

-- Oh, absolutely.

-- Tell me what you know about your sword.

-- Very little.

I know that it came into our possession through the family.

It's been in our family for five generations.

And the story that I remember being told is that my great aunt who lived in Memphis helped nuns through the nunnery there in Memphis with their travels on mission trips.

And so somehow this came back to them from some nuns that went on a mission trip.

And where, I'm not sure.

-- This is a hand-carved Japanese ivory ceremonial sword.

-- Wow.

-- Everything on here is etched by hand.

It's on genuine ivory.

-- Wow.

-- It is a absolutely wonderful piece.

It was worn primarily by royalty and people of means and wealth.

It was a sign of respect if you carried a sword, unlike the peasants and the those who just occupied the earth.

They're the upper crust who are given these beautiful swords.

You have a wonderful piece here.

I'm estimating that this originates from the early 1800s.

-- Yes, I would think so.

-- That's what I would that's what I would estimate, the early 1800s.

The condition overall is very good to be as old as it is.

You've got one small missing little on the that goes to the hilt.

But other than that, it is in very, very good condition.

What would you estimate the value to be?

-- I would have no idea.

If it's ivory, I'm hoping it's up there.

-- It's very unique.

It's one of a kind, it's rare.

I'm of the opinion, at auction, assuming I had the right people there... You've got to have people who collect it, and there are a lot, now, who do that.

I would estimate $2,500 to $3,000.

-- Wow, that's great.

-- It's a very, very nice piece.

It possibly could go up from there.

I think that's a very, very conservative estimate.

In a retail setting, somewhere between $4,000 and $5,000.

-- Wow, great!.

-- If it were mine and I insured it, I would insure it for no less than $8,000.

-- Okay, thank you.

Thank you very much.

That's fascinating and wonderful.

-- You've got a beautiful piece.

Thank you for bringing it in.

-- Thank you for telling me about it.

-- Join us next time on Mississippi Antiques Showcase and see if you have a hidden treasure in your closet.